01 June 2011

Farmer's Market Sandwich

And the Farmer's Market is back in Benicia. Yup, a little small town in North California, you have probably never heard of. Don't worry, I once met someone who lived 10 minutes from here and had never heard of it. So our little once a week market is back for the season. It's not very big, it doesn't have much of a selection, it is being overrun by the craft stands of obviously bored housewifes, but I don't care. I love it for some reason. I have been going to it all my life. It used to have a giant bouncy house at the end and the horse ride where they just go in a circle, which made it fabulous to me as a kid. While both of those are gone, I have grown to appreciate the actual stands in it.

The first beets I have ever bought. I really have just eaten a beet once in a salad and my main source of knowledge of them comes from Dwight Schrute. So I bought them because I thought they looked lovely, then got home and said 'Wait, what the heck do I do with a beet? Can you eat it raw? Do you have to boil it or something?' So thank you google search, I now know what to do it a beet. And beet chips are amazing, they actually do it crunchy like a potato chip.

Radishes, first time buying those as well. They are quite nice. Very crunchy little things, and those little bundles of them are so cute. I first bought them just based on looks but now love the taste.

Beecher's Marco Polo cheese. I first saw the owner of the company featured on Martha, of course, its getting weird how much I talk about her. Anyways, he said they were from Pike Place Market, which I have been to once and thought it was an amazing winding tunnel of little shops and stand. So that made me kinda love the company without ever trying the product, so when I saw the local grocery store have it, I grab it right away, not knowing what Marco Polo cheese would taste like at all. It is filled with salt and cracked pepper. And it is wonderful, such a nice bite to it. Go run out and get it, seriously it is that good.

So this is just my nice little vegetarian baguette sandwich. Most everything on it was from the farmer's market, which just made it feel more like summer time. Even though the weather is rainy and cold.

Oh, and don't forget the basil on a sandwich. Yes, add loads of basil, always use a baguette (because they both remind more of an amazing sandwich I got in Paris).

I know Benicia... My grandfather is a boat man and when I was little, we would take one of his boats (either the sailboat or the folkboat) and boat up to the delta to camp out for a couple weeks at a time at a little place called Locke Slough. We would stop at the Benicia Marina on the way up and the way back down every time. :)

Also, I tried those beet chips a few weeks ago and mine either burnt or were chewy. (They still tasted pretty good, though.) Do you think it just has to do with consistency of thinness and size?

GREAT recipe! I have started making my own laundry detergent only recently - and love it - but don't have a pretreatment spray - These are EASY ingredients and I'm going to give this a try!!! Thanks for posting it!